To date, the United States (U.S.) has been the most heavily impacted country by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). By November 30, 2020, when this paper was written, 13.5 million cases were ...reported in the U.S. with over 268 000 deaths. Historically, vaccines have been one of the most effective and efficient technical tools for controlling a communicable disease. While the development of these vaccines has certainly been a challenge, it could be more challenging to achieve robust vaccine uptake because of many barriers. In this review, we focused on two types of barriers documented from long-term experience in the U.S.: structural and attitudinal. Structural barriers are systemic issues that impact one's ability to access a service, and they include time, transportation, cost, and clinic or outlet location; while attitudinal barriers are beliefs or perceptions that impact the willingness of at-risk individuals to seek out and/or accept a service. In the context of vaccination they include beliefs about the communicable disease, beliefs about vaccines, fear, and trust in healthcare and governmental agencies. Of the attitudinal barriers, public trust is a barrier that is of particular importance. In addition to affecting reception of vaccines, it may exacerbate disparities and reduce the likelihood of success of a vaccination program. Recommendations are made to overcome attitudinal barriers to help improve the effectiveness of vaccination programs for COVID-19 control in the U.S., such as building public support through bipartisan endorsements and leveraging social media platforms to promote vaccination.
Permissionless and permissioned blockchain diffusion Helliar, Christine V.; Crawford, Louise; Rocca, Laura ...
International journal of information management,
October 2020, 2020-10-00, 20201001, Volume:
54
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
•A study of permissionless and permissioned blockchain diffusion.•Permissioned blockchain diffusion is lagging well behind the diffusion of permissionless blockchains.•Barriers and drivers of ...diffusion are different for each type of blockchain.•Barriers and drivers of diffusion change over time- initial barriers may be surmounted and become features or drivers.•Drivers of one type of technology may be drivers for another type.
This paper explores the barriers and drivers of diffusion associated with permissionless and permissioned blockchains, seeking to establish whether they are the same or different and whether barriers and drivers change over time. The study was undertaken in two stages: (i) interviews in 2016 that examine the barriers and drivers of diffusion; followed by (ii) a case study in 2019 of the Italian wine industry’s permissioned blockchain. The results show that diffusion is reaching a final stage for permissionless blockchains but is lagging behind for permissioned blockchains due to the different barriers and drivers of diffusion.
The implications from this study are that: (i) drivers and barriers for different types of technological innovation may be different and change over time; (ii) initial barriers may be surmounted and become features of the underlying technology; (iii) barriers may become drivers of a technology; (iv) drivers of one type of technology may spill-over to become drivers for another type; (v) diffusion may be measured by both the number of adoptions and the number of participants in that technology; (vi) off-chain processes may become a major barrier for permissioned blockchains; and finally (vii) self-interest may be the key driver of technological innovation.
Advanced in vitro tissue chip models can reduce and replace animal experimentation and may eventually support “on‐chip” clinical trials. To realize this potential, however, tissue chip platforms must ...be both mass‐produced and reconfigurable to allow for customized design. To address these unmet needs, an extension of the µSiM (microdevice featuring a silicon‐nitride membrane) platform is introduced. The modular µSiM (m‐µSiM) uses mass‐produced components to enable rapid assembly and reconfiguration by laboratories without knowledge of microfabrication. The utility of the m‐µSiM is demonstrated by establishing an hiPSC‐derived blood–brain barrier (BBB) in bioengineering and nonengineering, brain barriers focused laboratories. In situ and sampling‐based assays of small molecule diffusion are developed and validated as a measure of barrier function. BBB properties show excellent interlaboratory agreement and match expectations from literature, validating the m‐µSiM as a platform for barrier models and demonstrating successful dissemination of components and protocols. The ability to quickly reconfigure the m‐µSiM for coculture and immune cell transmigration studies through addition of accessories and/or quick exchange of components is then demonstrated. Because the development of modified components and accessories is easily achieved, custom designs of the m‐µSiM shall be accessible to any laboratory desiring a barrier‐style tissue chip platform.
Tissue chip platforms frequently suffer from complex and inflexible designs, limiting their adoption and distribution. To address these challenges, a modular µSiM (microdevice featuring a silicon‐nitride membrane) is developed, with easy assembly and modular functionality for quick customization by new users. Assays are developed to monitor barrier function, and interlaboratory reproducibility of a stem cell‐derived vascular model is demonstrated.
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is one of the important modalities of the next generation of new energy vehicles. As the basic infrastructure of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, hydrogen refueling stations ...(HRSs) have drawn attention from all social circles. However, hindered by various barriers, the development of HRSs is much slower than the Chinese government's expectation. Hence, this study aims to explore critical barriers of the HRS development in China based on a modified fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. Firstly, a barrier list is identified through a literature survey and expert consultation, which consists of four categories (economic, technological, social and political-regulatory aspect) and 12 potential barriers. Later, considering the subjectivity of threshold setting in the traditional fuzzy DEMATEL method, the K-means clustering algorithm is utilized to optimize the threshold value, and thus a modified fuzzy DEMATEL approach is proposed to investigate the prominence of these barriers and the cause-effect relationships among them. The results show that six barriers are regarded as key barriers to China's HRS development, and corresponding policy measures are formulated to mitigate or eliminate these critical barriers.
•Barriers to the development of hydrogen refueling station in China are summarized.•The prioritization and influence severity of each barrier are obtained by a modified fuzzy DEMATEL.•Six barriers are regarded as key barriers hindering the hydrogen refueling station development.•Policy measures are formulated to mitigate or eliminate these critical barriers.
Online learning has been extensively conducted to continue the academic activities in the universities transversely the realm during the pandemic instigated by COVID-19. Like other countries' ...universities across the world, universities in a developing country such as Bangladesh are going through the online learning phenomenon. However, the current virtual platform of learning implies enormous challenges for undergraduates to participate in the online learning process due to numerous barriers. Thus, the current paper intends to examine barriers that intensify unwillingness to online education at the university level in the context of Bangladesh. Based on the underpinning theories of TAM3 and UTAUT, this study identified four major barriers such as financial, insufficient institutional support, technological, and individual. Furthermore, gender is considered as moderating variable in the model. To inspect such barriers along with the moderating variable, this study employs the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique to estimate the measurement and structural model parameters and to generate the coexisting bootstrap assessments. The bootstrapping procedure has been initiated to test the statistical significance of the model parameter estimations. The findings confirm that technological, and insufficient institutional support barriers are statistically significant whereas the other two barriers have been revealed as non-significant to intensify learners' reluctance to the online study. Furthermore, current findings also ratify no significant effect of gender as a moderating variable. Finally, this study augments specific policy implications for diverse stakeholders in current settings.
In this study, oxidation polymerization was used to synthesize poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)-modified TiO sub(2) nanoparticles (NPs) and then the effect of the interface between the TiO sub(2) NPs ...and the P3HT coating on the system's photocatalytic ability under visible light was investigated. The photocatalytic properties of the TiO sub(2) NPs were enhanced from the UV to the visible after incorporation of P3HT. Moreover, charge transfer between the TiO sub(2) NPs and the P3HT coating was promoted when a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of 2-thiophenecarboxylic acid was present at their interface; this SAM decreased the barrier for charge transfer between the TiO sub(2) NPs and the P3HT coating, leading to improved photocatalytic activity under visible light.
Over the last few years, cancer immunotherapy experienced tremendous developments and it is nowadays considered a promising strategy against many types of cancer. However, the exclusion of ...lymphocytes from the tumor nest is a common phenomenon that limits the efficiency of immunotherapy in solid tumors. Despite several mechanisms proposed during the years to explain the immune excluded phenotype, at present, there is no integrated understanding about the role played by different models of immune exclusion in human cancers. Hypoxia is a hallmark of most solid tumors and, being a multifaceted and complex condition, shapes in a unique way the tumor microenvironment, affecting gene transcription and chromatin remodeling. In this review, we speculate about an upstream role for hypoxia as a common biological determinant of immune exclusion in solid tumors. We also discuss the current state of ex vivo and in vivo imaging of hypoxic determinants in relation to T cell distribution that could mechanisms of immune exclusion and discover functional-morphological tumor features that could support clinical monitoring.
This study investigates the causal relationships among ‘institutional’, ‘economic’, ‘social’ and ‘environmental’ sustainability barriers in addition to assessing their effects on sustainable housing. ...A questionnaire survey was conducted with professionals in the regulated sector of the Ghanaian housing market. Data collected were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Results revealed the following significant paths among the barriers: ‘institutional barriers’ to ‘economic barriers’ path is supported at a significance level of p < .05 at a t-value of 2.125; ‘institutional barriers’ to ‘social barriers’ path is also supported at a significance level of p < .05 at a t-value of 2.132 and likewise ‘institutional barriers’ to ‘environmental barriers’ path of p < .01 at a t-value of 3.740. Between the barriers and sustainable housing, both ‘institutional barriers’ and ‘environmental barriers’ have significant impacts on sustainable housing at t-values of 3.673 and 1.790 supported at p < .01 and p < .10, respectively. Three underlying barriers, viz: ‘bureaucratic delays’, ‘policy instability’ and ‘weak enforcement of development control on land’ accounted for all the significant paths of the ‘institutional barriers’. Among them ‘policy instability’ has the highest loading, suggesting that it is the biggest barrier to sustainable housing. Essentially, the findings unraveled the causal-effect relationships among the four categories of barriers and a predictive model between the barriers and sustainable housing. Accordingly, the ‘institutional barriers’ are causal barriers that have multiplier effects on ‘economic’, ‘social’ and ‘environmental’ barriers. The findings of this study contribute to the global body of knowlege on housing by investigating the interactive effects of institutional, economic, social and environmental sustainability barriers on sustainable housing. This equips policymakers and practitioners with deeper knowledge, enabling effective decisions, policies and strategies to overcome the barriers and promote sustainable housing development and supply.
•This paper employs partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).•Four barrier categories were established, viz: ‘economic’, ‘social’, ‘environmental’ and ‘institutional’ sustainability barriers.•Findings of the study revealed that institutional barriers have significant impacts on the other barrier categories.•Both the institutional barriers and environmental barriers have significant impacts on sustainable housing.•Among underlying institutional barriers, ‘policy instability’ has the highest loading; thus, it is the biggest barrier to sustainable housing.
Improvement in energy efficiency is one of the main options to reduce energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions. However, large-scale deployment of energy-efficient technologies is constrained by ...several factors. Employing a survey of 509 industrial and commercial firms throughout Ukraine and a generalized ordered logit model, we quantified the economic, behavioral, and institutional barriers that may impede the deployment of energy-efficient technologies. Our analysis shows that behavioral barriers resulted from lack of information, knowledge, and awareness are major impediments to the adoption of energy-efficient technologies in Ukraine, and that financial barriers may further impede investments in these technologies especially for small firms. This suggests that carefully targeted information provisions and energy audits will enhance Ukrainian firms' investments in energy-efficient technologies to save energy consumption, improve productivity, and reduce carbon emissions from the productive sectors.
•Employing a survey of 509 industrial and commercial firms throughout Ukraine•A generalized ordered logit model is used in the analysis.•The paper quantifies the economic, behavioral, and institutional barriers to energy-efficient technologies.•Behavioral barriers are major impediments to the adoption of energy-efficient technologies.•Financial barriers may further impede investments in these technologies especially for small firms.
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